I was listening to the first talk at the Dare To Be A Disciple retreat this morning (I know, you intended to be here, but something came up…(-: ), and Fr. Eduardo mentioned something important. I thought I’d share it with y’all.

He said that, if we constantly break ourselves open, and empty ourselves out being Eucharist to others, we run the risk of developing something he calls “Eucharistic Fatigue”: we can find ourselves “running on empty”.

The Eucharist, received at Mass weekly (or even daily), is for us our “spiritual filling station”: we receive Christ in the Eucharist, and, if we open ourselves to His physical Presence within us, we are “filled with His Holy Spirit”, to “become one Body, one Spirit in Christ” (remember the Eucharistic Prayer that says that?).

If you think we show up at Mass, line up, then stick out our hands (or tongues) just to get a cookie and go sit down…you’re incorrect. That Living Presence of Christ in the Eucharist is our power-up; it’s our spiritual Red Bull; it’s our recharge to go forth and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19).

Y’all, we have work to do. There are people in our lives who need to hear about Jesus! There are people who are flailing about all over the place, trying to find something to fill the gaping, aching hole left in their lives because they don’t know Jesus!

So this weekend, when you receive the Eucharist, consider this: can you become what you receive? Are you receiving something that you can offer to others? Jesus doesn’t want to stay locked up in you: He wants to get out into the world to transform lives!

Remember: when you’re sent from Mass, your destination isn’t supposed to be the couch to watch sports (or “Say Yes To The Dress”). You are sent out to complete the mission the Apostles received from Jesus. So…GO.

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Something is going on in the Church these days. Of course, that’s nothing new; something is always going on in the Church, every day.

But today is special. Today commemorates that day, almost 2,000 years ago, when the Church began. It commemorates that day when the Apostles, and Mary, and the whole company of disciples were gathered in the Upper Room, and the Holy Spirit came upon them and lit them on fire! Today commemorates the day the Holy Spirit pushed them out of the room they’d been hiding in, and sent them off to fulfill what Jesus commissioned them to do!

Here’s what I think, though: This story, for many of us, much of the time, is just that: a story. It’s one of those little vignettes we see through all of Lent and Easter; we’ve heard the story so many times we don’t really think about it. “Oh, yeah…wind. Tongues of fire. Hear them speaking in our language. Just doesn’t “pop” for us.

But I need to tell you: This ain’t just some old story.

I’ll confess that, in this modern Church of ours, we underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit. We knowabout the Holy Spirit; we have readings like today’s to give us information. In the second reading, Paul outlines the general way the Holy Spirit works. “…Different spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; …different forms of service but the same LORD.” We get that.

But look more closely. Paul says that, at our Baptism,…”we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” All. Of us. In the Gospel, Jesus breathed on the Apostles and told them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” He set them up to be able to do what He wanted them to do in the world, but even then, they were afraid.

Remember the sequence of events. Today’s Gospel is an account of the first time the Apostles see Jesus after the Resurrection. Last week’s readings are an account of the last time they saw him. It took weeks for Jesus to get the disciples to understand what He wanted from them; even after the fifty days He spent with them, when they saw Jesus on the Mount of Ascension, what did they do? The Gospel says, “They worshiped, but they doubted [emphasis mine].”

Do you think they doubted after the Holy Spirit got all over them in that Upper Room? I’d say…not.

That Great Commission Jesus issued in last Sunday’s Gospel wasn’t just for the people standing there that day. It’s for us, too. And as both our priests pointed out last Sunday, we cannot be afraid to “preach the Gospel wherever we go.” The stakes couldn’t be higher! If we really believe the things we profess (say, in the Creed, for example), we have to go tell someone about it!

And the Holy Spirit is just the change-agent we need!

The Apostles went out into Jerusalem and started preaching to the masses, people from all over the known world, who were in Jerusalem. And everyone understood them! AS Father Russ pointed out last weekend, the early Church grew by leaps and bounds, in spite of the vicious persecutions of Christians! Roman soldiers who were involved in executing Christians converted to the faith. Why? Because they saw the witness of those Christians’ lives; they saw the joy with which they approached even torture and death; They saw how they loved one another!

And we have that power! We have that same Spirit! We can draw people to Christ through the way we live!

Except…a funny thing happens to us on the way to the soapbox.

We unfortunately buy into the LIE the Evil One sells us: that all this Holy Spirit stuff is for the “weirdoes”. Or we buy into the LIE that we are somehow too smart, or too advanced, or too intellectual for all this mumbo-jumbo, speaking-in-tongues, snake-handling business.

We watch the caricatures of Christians in the media, and we buy them; we think about our separated brethren, like the Pentecostals, or the Amish; those of us who are old enough think about Jim Jones and Jonestown, and we figure that all that extreme religiousness is “dangerous”.

Or…maybe it’s simpler than that. The Church tells us that there are things we can’t do: contraception; sexual relationships outside of marriage; pornography. Or it tells us that we shouldn’t pursue money above everything else, or that we have to give to the poor. The Church tells us what to do and not do, and we are Americans, by God, and “they can’t tell me what to do!”

Brothers and sisters, we’ve been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! We have been told over and over that religion is for inside our churches, but that it has no place out there” in the world! We have been cowed, even bullied, into thinking that we need to just keep quiet, and not disturb other folks with our troublesome moralizing.

But y’all: I’m here to say that this is exactly what the Apostles were doing in the ancient world. They were different people, changed in important ways by the power of the Holy Spirit to do things they’d never done before! And they went out and changed the world, because they were empowered by the gift of the Holy Spirit!

And you know what? So are we, if we will only embrace the gift!

Most of us here, if not all, are baptized. We received the Holy Spirit. We are, most of us, confirmed. In that Sacrament, we received the fullness of God’s Spirit. The Holy Spirit arms us with all the tools we need, to take the same world–changing, life-changing message of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, to a world that is desperately scrambling to find its way!

And I don’t care if you’re young or old, black or white, tall or short, fat or skinny, introverted or extroverted: Somebody needs to hear about Jesus Christ…from you! Somebody needs to see Jesus Christ…in you! Somebody needs to be saved from the clutches of hell…by you!

The New Evangelization that the last three Popes have called for is not just my job. It isn’t just our priests’ job. It isn’t just the job of the people who work for the institutional Church.

It’s your job too! Do you have to preach in the streets? Not necessarily; only if God calls you to that. But you do have to preach…with your life.

This story of Pentecost is not just some old story we read every year. It’s a story, sure enough. But it isn’t old: it tells us where we came from, and where we are sent.

Something new is going on in the Church these days. Almost 2,000 years ago, the Apostles were sitting in prayer in the Upper Room, and Christ kept His promise! Remember what He told them: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” He kept that promise.

Now it’s our turn, brothers and sisters. The same Jesus who stood on that hill with the disciples at Ascension, who breathed on the Apostles in the Upper Room after the Resurrection, that same Jesus is present to us now: He’s present in his Word; He’s present in his people and in his ministers; and He’s present most perfectly in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

At the end of the Mass, I will say, “Go!”, and send us all out into the world. What do you think you’re sent out to do?

The Holy Spirit knows what He wants from us. Ask Him!

Pray with me, please: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You will renew the face of the earth.”

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We are all called to service in the Body of Christ. Aren’t we? There are three “great” things Jesus Christ told us to do before He departed; two are in the Greatest Commandments (Matthew 22:36 ff.): ““You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The third is found in the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 19-20): “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, 20i teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Just three things. The folks at the Church of the Nativity in Timonium, MD capture it like this: “Love God Love others Make disciples”.

I’m going to be bold, and say that, no matter who you are in the Body of Christ, those three things are enjoined on you from the lips of Christ Himself. Love God (How? See John 14:21, for example). Love others (John 15:13). And make disciples.

Most of us manage to either pull those first two off, or to recognize clearly that we fail at it, whether accidentally or on purpose. At its most basic, sin is a failure to either a) love God, or b) be selfish (love ones neighbor less than oneself).

But what about that “Make Disciples” thing? That sounds…weird. And strange to a Catholic ear.

Because we have no real choice, y’all. We are all called to Make Disciples.

The Holy Spirit arms us with the spiritual gifts we need. Does every Christian have all the gifts? NO! No more than the eye has the ability to walk, or the hand to see, no one of us has every gift. But as a Body of Christ, we are “Jesus with skin on” to the world around us (h/t to Memphis SEARCH).

The Holy Spirit is stirring the Church. He’s blowing across your doorstep, blowing in your windows. He’s rising the roof on the Church. The Apostles, and the others with them in the Upper Room sure felt it. And the world has never been the same. They went out, preaching the Gospel and making disciples. and here we are today, following in their footsteps.

Let go, y’all. Let the Holy Spirit take over for a bit.

“Come Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the Fire of your Love…”

Amen!

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It is easy to become skeptical of one’s fellow-man, if you watch or listen to too much news. I try not to, and I try hard; every once in a while, however, God kind of jump-slaps me on the back of the head with the reason I’m in this thing. And He does it in some of the most interesting places…

So, this morning, after I talked with a surgeon about something I am hoping he’ll do Monday, I stop at Krispy Kreme (confession to my wife: Yes, sweetheart, I went to Krispy Kreme and had donuts this morning. I am still stressing a little bit…). There’s only one Krispy Kreme in town; it was next door to the hospital I visited. And, the Krispy Kreme donut being an eighth day creation of Almighty GOD…well, you know why I stopped.

Anyway, so this guy walks into Krispy Kreme right behind me, and since I was on the phone, he walked around to wait to be helped. As I got off the phone, I heard him ask, “How much is a cup of coffee? I have a coupon for a free donut with a cup of coffee.” THe lady tells him the price of a small coffee, and I could see his shoulders drop a little as he quietly uttered “Oh…” and started to feel around in his pockets. So I stepped up to the counter and said, “I’ll get your coffee, bruh. What donut do you want?” (This is NOT the cool part of the story.) SO he thanks me, and gets his donut ordered, as do I.

So we walk around the counter to the register, and as I’m getting ready to pay, the man (whose name was John) looks me dead in the eye and says, “Thank you for reflecting God this morning.. I haven’t seen a lot of that lately.” (this is NOT the cool part of the story.) THEN, as I’m swiping my debit card to pay, the lady manning the drive-through window walks over, palming a bill of unknown denomination, and puts it in his hand, saying “The lady at the drive-through window asked me to give this to you.” He steps around me and waves across the counter and out the window, and yells, “Thank you, ma’am!” and comes back to get his stuff. (This is NOT the cool part of the story…”

So, we walk over to the end of the counter to the cream and sugar, and we talk a little more as we make our coffee drinkable. It turns out that today , January 31, is his father’s birthday, just as it is my oldest daughter’s birthday. THEN, an older African-American lady walks over to him, and holds out coupons for a free donut, no purchase required, that expire today. There were like fourteen of them! He takes them, thanks her profusely, then turns to me, takes two off the strip, and holds out the rest, and tells me, “There’s no way I could eat all these donuts today. Is there someone you can take donuts home to? I hate to see them go to waste.” (Now we are getting to the cool part of the story.)

There was nothing I could do with that many donuts (I love my family, and I would NEVER take a box full of donuts home to a house full of women. Just wouldn’t go well.) so there are three guys standing there waiting to order; I turn to them and ask them if they could use the coupons, since they hadn’t ordered yet. I gave away the twelve to those three guys, and left with my coffee.

So, what was the cool part, exactly? Just this: the face of Christ kept popping up, over and over, in that Krispy Kreme! Christ was there in John, who was just trying to get some breakfast and a little coffee. Christ went through the drive-through, feeding the hungry. Christ was there again in John, (loosely) paraphrasing Matthew 25:31 ff. And He was present in the little lady with the coupons, pulling off a mini-feeding of the five thousand!

And all this in South Memphis, down the street from Graceland, where the more genteel among us here in Memphis might fear to tread!

We are accused of a lot of things here in Memphis, many of them unflattering. But I am here to tell you that I saw Christ, over and over again, this morning, down the street from Graceland (how appropriate!)! And I saw total strangers reach out to each other, recognizing each others’ dignity as human persons, and acknowledging the presence of Christ in one another! And it all happened anonymously, and quietly, and over the course of about seven minutes.

That was…cool!

“…how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one person Jesus Christ overflow for the many.” Romans 5:15 NABre

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I’ve been away on an extended absence; let’s say I was wandering the desert for a while.

But I hope to be back, now. So you will see more frequent posts here on matters of faith and its connection to the lives we lead everyday. Sometimes those connections will be tenuous, but I promise there will be one!

I know that some folks may have been put off by some of what I said. But let me be clear: Just because the Church would propose that someone you love dearly is participating in a lifestyle that the Church considers sinful doesn’t mean that the Church, or anyone in the Church, hates anyone. Just because I tell you you’re doing something wrong doesn’t mean I don’t love you, and accept you as you are.

Here’s a funny question: What do contracepting, missing Mass without good reason, and (homo- or hetero-) sexual expression outside of the sacrament of Matrimony, for example, all have in common? They are all mortal sins (meaning, they are all actions that separate us from God in a way that threatens our immortal souls). Does that mean that the people who commit any of those sins are base, evil, and hateful people? No; they might be, but it isn’t just because they sin. And funny enough, none of those sins is any more “mortal” than any other. Everyone sins. Most people commit the occasional mortal sin. And when they do, there’s a way to deal with that.

But brothers and sisters, things don’t become “good” just because we can’t imagine that God would think that the thing is bad. God, for better or worse, isn’t limited by our imagination. He designed us a certain way; His intent has been frustrated in individual lives by the presence of sin and by our free will; and God is both merciful and just. Can someone who lives a clearly sinful life get into Heaven? Who knows for sure about any individual? Nobody can say for sure who is NOT in Heaven (even if we can’t imagine God letting a particular person in!). At the same time, us wishing that someone is in Heaven doesn’t make it so, either.

And the really sad thing is this: it isn’t about what punishment might or might not come if a person continues to do whatever it is we say is so wrong. It’s more (much more) that the person committing those acts misses out on the good, the peace, the happiness in this life that comes from walking with God. We are all looking for God. When we find Him, when we embrace Him, we are at our happiest. When we turn away from Him, we are less happy.

I like the image Christopher West often uses when discussing Theology of the Body. It’s like we are invited to this sumptuous banquet, with great food and choice wines…and because we don’t want to be told what to do, we eat from the dumpster out back instead. Can we get nourishment from what we get out of the dumpster? Sure. But we have to pick through a lot of crappy stuff to find the nourishment, and occasionally, we will get sick. We might even run across something that will kill us.

So enough of that.

My wife, Ann Marie, pointed out something about my homily yesterday. As she observed, I do a good job, calling out the demons that afflict us. But I spend ever so little time actually trying to help uncover strategies to actually do the junk I say I think people ought to do. So let me rectify that.

What are some ways to help our families becomes saints? Here’s a short list; not meant to be exhaustive:

Pray with your family. Daily. Even if it’s only an “Our Father”, everyone in the family needs to acknowledge that there is Someone bigger than themselves to whom they owe their lives.

Pray with your spouse. Men, (especially Catholic men!), don’t think that your wife cares how articulate and complex your prayer is. She cares more that you have it in your heart to lead her spiritually. Pray. Real Men do it. Ladies, if your husband is reluctant, don’t beat him up. You lead the prayers for a while.

Pray for your spouse. Especially if one or the other is reluctant to do all this God stuff, enlist the power of the Holy Spirit, and the intercession of the Saints in heaven, to help change your spouse’s heart. If you’re praying for someone, it’s hard to be angry at them, too!

Take your family to Mass. At least every Sunday. Not only is it a requirement for Catholics (in line with keeping holy the Sabbath day, and emulating the Apostles and the early Church), but it’s good for you. See bullet point #1 above.

Have at least one meal with the entire family gathered, every day. It’s hard to do, and with the tempo of life we impose on ourselves, it sometimes isn’t possible. But if your goal is to eat together every day, you’ll do it most of the time.

Turn off the TV. And the BluRay player. And the XBox/PS3/Wii/other gaming device. Take a walk. Play a board game. Heck, play poker and win back your kids’ allowance money. But spend some time together unmediated by media that don’t care about you and your family.

If you’re married, here’s one final recommendation: Just give Church’s proposition about the proper order of sexual expression in marriage a try. Yes, it’s a risk. But…just suppose for a moment…that the Church is correct. Just suppose, for a moment, that what we’ve had force-fed to us by the culture since 1965…is completely and utterly false. Go audit the first part of a Natural Family Planning class. Or if that’s too much, talk with a friend who practices Natural Family Planning. But get informed. And then give it a try.

God bless everybody! I’m always interested in hearing what you are thinking. feel free to comment on the blog, on Facebook, or via Twitter. And thanks for reading!